still waters refuge

About Me

I am a multi-media artist,facilitator,educator and nurturer with a major interest in fibers, paper and book arts and spirituality and the arts.
I reuse, recycle and use rejectamenta as much as possible.
Please leave a comment to get in touch and send your crafts for review,schedule a Spirituality and the Arts Retreat, and to purchase art work.

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Sunday, December 4, 2016

Since the election, storms of uncertainty and fear have arisen. It is time to collectively stand up, calm and clear. With peacefulness and mutual respect, our communities can become centers of protection and vision.

Protection can take many forms. Protection can be providing sanctuary for those in danger. Protection can be skillfully confronting those whose actions would harm the vulnerable among us. Protection can be standing up for the environment. Protection can be becoming an active ally for those targeted by hate and prejudice.

Vision means carrying the light. It means standing up for the truth—no matter what:

“Hatred never ceases by hatred, but by love alone is healed.”“Greed, Hate and Ignorance create suffering. Generosity, Love and Wisdom bring happiness.”“Mind is the forerunner. Speak and act with a pure mind and happiness will follow.”“Plant seeds of goodness, and well-being will grow.”

Thursday, August 25, 2016

It's that time of year in my life when folks ask me what I would like them, to give me as a gift.

I love gifts- giving and receiving. I love thinking about the person I want to gift, generally I want to make them something, something I like, something I enjoyed making, love in every thought and stitch.

I love sending color and beauty outing the world through a gift.

I love receiving a gift, feeling the love poured into it. Overtime as I see the gift, I feel that love again, and can feel the gifter in my heart.

This year, if you really want to know, what I want...
I want you to do something kind, and then tell me about it.

Call me, send me a note, create an image reflecting the kindness, a FB message- instead of writing happy birthday on my page- tell me what you did that was kind.

If you are unable to "do" something kind, think about it.
Think, about kindness

That will be enough.

Prayer for loving kindness

May I be happy

May I be peaceful

May I be safe and protected from all harm

May I be well in body mind and spirit

May I be free

This is what can be done
By one who is skilled in goodness,
And who knows the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech,
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied,
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm and wise and skillful,
Not proud or demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.
Wishing: In gladness and in safety,
May all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be;
Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to-be-born —
May all beings be at ease!
Let none deceive another,
Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings;
Radiating kindness over the entire world:
Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths;
Outwards and unbounded,
Freed from hatred and ill-will.
Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down
Free from drowsiness,
One should sustain this recollection.
This is said to be the sublime abiding.
By not holding to fixed views,
The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision,
Being freed from all sense desires,
Is not born again into this world.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Some communites we are born into.
We know community as we bring our Creators covenant of life with us as we move into this world, taking our first breath.

Others we adopt along the way.
Whether our community is based on culture, geography, family or spirituality, when we share a common purpose, we can join in unity.

We can create covenant community.

With our home community as our base, we can recognize that the universe is our community.

Here, on Mother Earth, we are one.
We have the option to believe it.

When we choose to embrace our similarities and our differences , we can let go of scarcity and competition.
We can love and support each other.
Through the strength of our unity in community we can extend love and support world wide.
It is through giving that we receive.
It is through loving that we are loved.
It is through forgiving that we are forgiven.
There is enough.
There is enough.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

When one need seems to be in opposition to another's need, I pray to be open to be a part of the meeting place, the covenant of relationship, that transforms opposition into resolution and clearness of right action.

God Bless the GrassNotes: words and music by Malvina Reynolds; copyright 1964 Schroder Music Company, renewed 1992. People often think of this as an ecology song, but Malvina wrote it after reading Mark Lane’s comments about the John F. Kennedy assassination.God bless the grass that grows thru the crack.They roll the concrete over it to try and keep it back.The concrete gets tired of what it has to do,It breaks and it buckles and the grass grows thru,And God bless the grass.

God bless the truth that fights toward the sun,They roll the lies over it and think that it is done.It moves through the ground and reaches for the air,And after a while it is growing everywhere,And God bless the grass.

God bless the grass that grows through cement.It's green and it's tender and it's easily bent.But after a while it lifts up its head,For the grass is living and the stone is dead,And God bless the grass.

God bless the grass that's gentle and low,Its roots they are deep and its will is to grow.And God bless the truth, the friend of the poor,And the wild grass growing at the poor man's door,And God bless the grass.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

The voices in my head who love me so much and want me to be safe, tell me-"you can't do that, don't risk it, if you put yourself out there you will be hurt."

I'm listening to these voices, who have chosen me, and learning to tell them back, "thanks, that's one way of looking at life, now you go take a walk."

I've put myself out there. I have taken the risk.
I have listened to other voices who love me, I have done the work, done the writing, done the editing, listened, learned, prayed, discerned, prayed.

And, thank you very much, I am loved and chosen.
I'm pre-approved!
Our Father, the Great Mother, the Holy Spirit all chose me to be their beloved child, just like Jesus, no more, no less, just loved.
And, thank you very much, they know my hearts desire and want me to have it.
Surrender, obedience and faithfulness deliver it into my inbox.

And there are the times of waiting.

I've asked to be chosen and I've done the work and now I have to wait to see the outcome.
I can:

worry

try to influence the outcome

stress about the outcome

berate myself for not doing enough to influence the outcome

etc, etc, etc, ad nauseum.

Or I can wait.
I learned just today, the hebrew word for wait, quvah can also mean "bind".
So we can do all of the above, or choose to bind ourselves into a time of waiting. Ply ourselves into a time of oneness with the other waiting threads.
Plying takes single, unstable strands and binds them into strong useful rope we can depend on to hold us together.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Be kind and tell the truth.
Simple words to live by and so many different paths to choose from, it's not simple at all.

I've been trying to write writing a 3-6 page paper on a call I feel strongly in my heart. I've been living the call on my own, and a positive outcome of the writing could will lead to communal and outward sharing of the call- all good!

Still I'm wracked with self doubt and fear of expressing my gifts- yes dear blog friends who I feel so comfortable with- I have many gifts- and my hearts desire is to share them with as many folks as possible, now, while I am still strong and healthy enough to do so with energy and joy.

( my mind speaking)Who was going to be reading this? Unknown people on a selection committee- they were going to judge me! and they might not pick me. How do I write what they want to hear when I don't even know who they are? If I don't tell anyone, then I won't feel as bad if I don't get selected, or even called to interview.)

My writing was stiff and unfolding, till I got the courage up to call my support folks and tell them what was going on.
Suddenly I was no longer alone.

With the help of my friends I was able to ask my well meaning and overly protective judgmental mind to take a walk.

I'm writing to God, Goddess, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and They are all rejoicing in my willingness and faithfulness to spend the time, with them ,working through me, to clarify and express my call.
Everyone I am writing to loves me and wants for me what is my hearts desire and
*******Wonder of Wonders******
They gave me the gifts in the first place and rejoice in my using them!

Bill Tabor urged us at Pendle Hill to ring the bell anytime we felt filled with the Spirit.
I don't think anyone ever did.
Bill began every listening session I had with him by asking,
"Robyn, has thee been faithful?"

Here on my mountain top I am ringing the bell.
I pray you can hear it.

Yes Bill, I am being faithful.

I have prayed, listened , discerned, done the writing, and as soon as my support folks finish editing my words, I am hitting the send button, and as my Grandmother used to say, "kissing it up to God".

Thursday, October 4, 2012

I had the opportunity last week, to say a few words and possibly insure financial security, beyond anything I had ever dreamed of.

A few words that might not be true.
We all lie. I have lied, because I thought I had to:
to protect myself
keep myself safe
to make someone like me
to get something I thought I needed.
Because, at the time I thought it was the right thing to do.

My rational, thinking mind, told me to do it.
"You are a good actress," it said.

I believe we are born knowing Truth; everything we need, to be:
Happy, Peaceful,Safe, Well and Free.
We are born powerful , all knowing individuals, one with the universe and God(dess).
Then we are taught to forget, by others, already forgetters of this Knowing, as they fear our power.

No one can ignore a newborn cry.
The first response is to comfort. The second to Silence.
Hush, hush, don't cry. don't call out your needs.
As we forget we become:
Sad, Angry,Anxious, Diseased, Enslaved.
So we start filling our minds, with what others tell us is truth, thoughts and things that we are told will make us happy.

I am in relationship with many who know everything.
They can never rest, as they are the only ones who can do what needs to be done properly.
They can have no true friends as no one can think on their level, no one can be trusted.
Saddest of all, they can't enjoy the refuge of the Spirit-the letting go of all and letting in all the Love the Universe has to offer- just because you are you.

Notice in all of the above I haven't mentioned the Heart.

"Beloved," says the Heart, "be still and remember.
You are love and you are loved for who you are.
Do what you can.
Want what you have.
Be who you are."

I thank God(dess) for my faith that makes what I believe happen.
I give thanks for years of meditation practice with Honored Teachers that shows me the workings of the mind and the heart.

I give thanks for refuge in:
God(dess)
The knowledge of the Prophet Stream
The community of others seeking to develop the Heart.

I pray for all I do, to witness to the unconditional Love of the Universe for all.
I pray that all I do, that all I have, is for the benefit of all beings.
I have faith, that what I do, what I have, and who I am, is enough.